Sarah Louise Palin; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician who served as Governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States in 2008.
Palin was a member of the Wasilla, Alaska, city council from 1992 to 1996 and the city's mayor from 1996 to 2002. After an unsuccessful campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Alaska in 2002, she chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 until her resignation in 2004. She was elected Governor of Alaska in November 2006. Palin became the first female governor of Alaska and the youngest person ever elected governor of that state.
In 2008, Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose Palin as his running mate in that year's presidential election, making her the second female candidate and the first Alaskan candidate of either major party on a national ticket, as well as the first female vice-presidential nominee of the Republican Party. Since the defeat of the McCain-Palin ticket in the 2008 election, there has been speculation that she may run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.
On July 3, 2009, Palin announced she would not seek reelection as governor and that she was resigning, effective July 26, 2009, eighteen months prior to the completion of her first term. She cited ethics complaints that had been filed following her selection as running mate to John McCain as the reason for her resignation, saying the resulting investigations had affected her efficacy to govern the state.
Palin was a member of the Wasilla, Alaska, city council from 1992 to 1996 and the city's mayor from 1996 to 2002. After an unsuccessful campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Alaska in 2002, she chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 until her resignation in 2004. She was elected Governor of Alaska in November 2006. Palin became the first female governor of Alaska and the youngest person ever elected governor of that state.
In 2008, Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose Palin as his running mate in that year's presidential election, making her the second female candidate and the first Alaskan candidate of either major party on a national ticket, as well as the first female vice-presidential nominee of the Republican Party. Since the defeat of the McCain-Palin ticket in the 2008 election, there has been speculation that she may run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.
On July 3, 2009, Palin announced she would not seek reelection as governor and that she was resigning, effective July 26, 2009, eighteen months prior to the completion of her first term. She cited ethics complaints that had been filed following her selection as running mate to John McCain as the reason for her resignation, saying the resulting investigations had affected her efficacy to govern the state.
Early life and career
Palin was born in Sandpoint, Idaho, the third of four children born to Sarah and Charles R. Heath, respectively a school secretary and science teacher / track coach. The family moved to Alaska when she was an infant. She attended Wasilla High School, where she was the head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and a member of the girls' cross country team. As captain and point guard of the school's girls' basketball team that won the Alaska state championship in 1982, she gained the nickname "Barracuda" for her competitive streak. She graduated in 1982.
Having won the Miss Wasilla pageant, she finished third in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant, receiving the "Miss Congeniality" award and a college scholarship. She attended Hawaii Pacific University in the Fall of 1982, North Idaho College (whose Alumni Association gave her the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award in June 2008) in the Spring and Fall of 1983, the University of Idaho in the Fall of 1984 and Spring of 1985, Matanuska-Susitna College in the Fall of 1985, and the University of Idaho again in the Spring and Fall of 1986 and the Fall of 1987, when she received her Bachelor's degree in communications with an emphasis in journalism.
Palin was born in Sandpoint, Idaho, the third of four children born to Sarah and Charles R. Heath, respectively a school secretary and science teacher / track coach. The family moved to Alaska when she was an infant. She attended Wasilla High School, where she was the head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and a member of the girls' cross country team. As captain and point guard of the school's girls' basketball team that won the Alaska state championship in 1982, she gained the nickname "Barracuda" for her competitive streak. She graduated in 1982.
Having won the Miss Wasilla pageant, she finished third in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant, receiving the "Miss Congeniality" award and a college scholarship. She attended Hawaii Pacific University in the Fall of 1982, North Idaho College (whose Alumni Association gave her the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award in June 2008) in the Spring and Fall of 1983, the University of Idaho in the Fall of 1984 and Spring of 1985, Matanuska-Susitna College in the Fall of 1985, and the University of Idaho again in the Spring and Fall of 1986 and the Fall of 1987, when she received her Bachelor's degree in communications with an emphasis in journalism.
Palin's early ambition was to be a sportscaster. Accordingly, after graduating, she worked as a sportscaster for KTUU-TV and KTVA-TV in Anchorage, and as a sports reporter for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. In 1988, she eloped with her childhood sweetheart Todd Palin, believing that her parents "couldn't afford a big white wedding." After the marriage, she helped in her husband’s commercial fishing business.
Early political career
Wasilla city council
Motivated by concerns that revenue from a new Wasilla sales tax would not be spent wisely, Palin was elected to the city council of Wasilla in 1992. She won 530 votes to 310. She ran for reelection in 1995, winning by 413 votes to 185, but did not complete her second term on the city council because she was elected mayor in 1996. Throughout her tenure on the city council and the rest of her career, Palin has been a registered Republican.
Mayor of Wasilla
Palin served two three-year terms (1996–2002) as the mayor of Wasilla. In 1996, she defeated three-term incumbent mayor John Stein, on a platform targeting wasteful spending and high taxes. Stein says that Palin introduced abortion, gun rights, and term limits as campaign issues. Although the election was a nonpartisan blanket primary, the state Republican Party ran advertisements on her behalf. At the conclusion of Palin's tenure as mayor in 2002, the city had about 6,300 residents. In 2008, Wasilla's mayor credited Palin's tax cuts and infrastructural improvements with helping the local economy, "br[inging] the big-box stores to Wasilla, ... helping Wasilla grow and draw 50,000 shoppers a day." The Boston Globe quoted a local business owner as crediting Palin with making the town "more of a community ... It's no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat."
First term
Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin consolidated the position of museum director and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from "city department heads who had been loyal to Stein," including the police chief, public works director, finance director, and librarian. Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her. She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration's policies. She created the position of city administrator, and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.
During her first year in office, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled a name from it and picked up the phone; she would ask: "How's the city doing?" Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that was enacted before she was elected to the city council, Palin cut property taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes. Using municipal bonds, she made improvements to the roads and sewers, and increased funding to the Police Department. She also oversaw new bike paths and procured funding for storm-water treatment to protect freshwater resources. At the same time, the city reduced spending on the town museum and stopped construction of a new library and city hall.
Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won, with 74% of the vote. She was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.
Palin appointed Charles Fannon to replace Stambaugh as police chief.
Second term
During her second term as mayor, Palin introduced a ballot measure proposing the construction of a municipal sports center to be financed by a 0.5% sales tax increase. The $14.7 million Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex was built on time and under budget, but the city spent an additional $1.3 million because of an eminent domain lawsuit caused by the failure to obtain clear title to the property before beginning construction. The city's long-term debt grew from about $1 million to $25 million through voter-approved indebtedness of $15 million for the sports complex, $5.5 million for street projects, and $3 million for water improvement projects. A city council member defended the spending increases as being caused by the city's growth during that time.
Palin also joined with nearby communities in jointly hiring the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The firm secured nearly $8 million in earmarked funds for the Wasilla city government. Earmarks included $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, and $900,000 for sewer repairs. Term limits in the Wasilla Municipal Code proscribe candidates from running for more than two consecutive terms.
Controversies
Wasilla librarian Mary Ellen Emmons strongly objected to remarks by Palin that Emmons characterized as being about censorship. Emmons said that Palin asked two or three times in October 1996 if she would object to books being removed from the library. Palin has said the question was "rhetorical". John Stein, the former mayor of Wasilla and Palin's 1996 political opponent, said in September 2008 that Palin's "religious beliefs," and the concerns of some voters about language in the books, motivated her inquiries. In December 1996, Palin said she had no books or other material in mind for removal. No books were removed from the library, and Palin stated in 2006 that she would not allow her personal religious beliefs to dictate her political positions.
Police Chief Irl Stambaugh, who was fired by Palin, was previously nominated to be Alaska's Municipal Employee of the Year. Because he had heard that Palin had felt intimidated by him during a meeting, he made sure to sit when talking with her, and to use a soothing voice. Nevertheless, Palin said, "When I met with you in private, instead of engaging in interactive conversation with me, you gave me short, uncommunicative answers and then you would sit there and stare at me in silence with a very stern look, like you were trying to intimidate me." On January 30, Stambaugh was on the phone with the town's librarian — who said she had just been fired — when an assistant of Palin's walked up and gave Stambaugh an envelope. Inside was a letter from Palin, saying Stambaugh, too, was fired. His firing was to be effective February 13.
Palin said that she fired Emmons and Stambaugh because they did not fully support her efforts to govern the city. The next day, following expressions of public support for Emmons at a personal meeting, Palin rescinded the firing of Emmons, stating that her concerns had been alleviated, and adding that Emmons agreed to support Palin's plan to merge the town's library and museum operations. Palin described the letters as just a test of loyalty. Stambaugh, who along with Emmons had supported Palin's opponent in the election, filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination, violation of his contract, and gender discrimination. In the trial, the defense alleged political reasons; Stambaugh said that he had opposed a gun control bill, Alaska Senate Bill 177, that Palin supported. The federal judge said in the decision that the police chief serves at the discretion of the mayor, and can be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one, and dismissed Stambaugh's lawsuit ordering Stambaugh to pay Palin's legal fees.
Post-mayoral years
In 2002, Palin ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a five-way Republican primary. The Republican ticket of U.S. Senator Frank Murkowski and Leman won the November 2002 election. When Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in December 2002 to become governor, he considered appointing Palin to replace him in the Senate, but chose his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski.
Governor Murkowski appointed Palin to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. She chaired the Commission beginning in 2003, serving as Ethics Supervisor. Palin resigned in January 2004, protesting what she called the "lack of ethics" of fellow Republican members.
After resigning, Palin filed a formal complaint against Oil and Gas Conservation Commissioner Randy Ruedrich, also the chair of the state Republican Party, accusing him of doing work for the party on public time and of working closely with a company he was supposed to be regulating. She also joined with Democratic legislator Eric Croft to file a complaint against Gregg Renkes, a former Alaskan Attorney General, accusing him of having a financial conflict of interest in negotiating a coal exporting trade agreement, while Renkes was the subject of investigation and after records suggesting a possible conflict of interest had been released to the public. Ruedrich and Renkes both resigned and Ruedrich paid a record $12,000 fine.
From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group designed to provide political training for Republican women in Alaska. In 2004, Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she had decided not to run for the U.S. Senate that year, against the Republican incumbent, Lisa Murkowski, because her teenage son opposed it. Palin said, "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. Senator?"
Governor of Alaska
In 2006, running on a clean-government platform, Palin defeated incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell. She will not be a candidate for re-election as Governor in 2010.
In the November election, Palin was outspent but victorious, defeating former Democratic governor Tony Knowles by a margin of 48.3% to 40.9%. She became Alaska's first female governor, at the age of 42, the youngest governor in Alaskan history, the state's first governor to have been born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood, and the first not to be inaugurated in Juneau (she chose to have the ceremony held in Fairbanks instead). She took office on December 4, 2006, and for most of her term was very popular with Alaska voters. Polls taken in 2007 showed her with 93% and 89% popularity among all voters, which led some media outlets to call her "the most popular governor in America." A poll taken in late September 2008 after Palin was named to the national Republican ticket showed her popularity in Alaska at 68%. A poll taken in May 2009 showed Palin's popularity among Alaskans was at 54% positive and 41.6% negative.
Palin declared that top priorities of her administration would be resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development. She had championed ethics reform throughout her election campaign. Her first legislative action after taking office was to push for a bipartisan ethics reform bill. She signed the resulting legislation in July 2007, calling it a "first step", and declaring that she remained determined to clean up Alaska politics.
Palin has frequently broken with the state Republican establishment. For example, she endorsed Sean Parnell's bid to unseat the state's longtime at-large U.S. Representative, Don Young, and she publicly challenged then-Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings. Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as needed "to make clear she had not abandoned him politically."
Motivated by concerns that revenue from a new Wasilla sales tax would not be spent wisely, Palin was elected to the city council of Wasilla in 1992. She won 530 votes to 310. She ran for reelection in 1995, winning by 413 votes to 185, but did not complete her second term on the city council because she was elected mayor in 1996. Throughout her tenure on the city council and the rest of her career, Palin has been a registered Republican.
Mayor of Wasilla
Palin served two three-year terms (1996–2002) as the mayor of Wasilla. In 1996, she defeated three-term incumbent mayor John Stein, on a platform targeting wasteful spending and high taxes. Stein says that Palin introduced abortion, gun rights, and term limits as campaign issues. Although the election was a nonpartisan blanket primary, the state Republican Party ran advertisements on her behalf. At the conclusion of Palin's tenure as mayor in 2002, the city had about 6,300 residents. In 2008, Wasilla's mayor credited Palin's tax cuts and infrastructural improvements with helping the local economy, "br[inging] the big-box stores to Wasilla, ... helping Wasilla grow and draw 50,000 shoppers a day." The Boston Globe quoted a local business owner as crediting Palin with making the town "more of a community ... It's no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat."
First term
Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin consolidated the position of museum director and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from "city department heads who had been loyal to Stein," including the police chief, public works director, finance director, and librarian. Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her. She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration's policies. She created the position of city administrator, and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.
During her first year in office, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled a name from it and picked up the phone; she would ask: "How's the city doing?" Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that was enacted before she was elected to the city council, Palin cut property taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes. Using municipal bonds, she made improvements to the roads and sewers, and increased funding to the Police Department. She also oversaw new bike paths and procured funding for storm-water treatment to protect freshwater resources. At the same time, the city reduced spending on the town museum and stopped construction of a new library and city hall.
Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won, with 74% of the vote. She was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.
Palin appointed Charles Fannon to replace Stambaugh as police chief.
Second term
During her second term as mayor, Palin introduced a ballot measure proposing the construction of a municipal sports center to be financed by a 0.5% sales tax increase. The $14.7 million Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex was built on time and under budget, but the city spent an additional $1.3 million because of an eminent domain lawsuit caused by the failure to obtain clear title to the property before beginning construction. The city's long-term debt grew from about $1 million to $25 million through voter-approved indebtedness of $15 million for the sports complex, $5.5 million for street projects, and $3 million for water improvement projects. A city council member defended the spending increases as being caused by the city's growth during that time.
Palin also joined with nearby communities in jointly hiring the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The firm secured nearly $8 million in earmarked funds for the Wasilla city government. Earmarks included $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, and $900,000 for sewer repairs. Term limits in the Wasilla Municipal Code proscribe candidates from running for more than two consecutive terms.
Controversies
Wasilla librarian Mary Ellen Emmons strongly objected to remarks by Palin that Emmons characterized as being about censorship. Emmons said that Palin asked two or three times in October 1996 if she would object to books being removed from the library. Palin has said the question was "rhetorical". John Stein, the former mayor of Wasilla and Palin's 1996 political opponent, said in September 2008 that Palin's "religious beliefs," and the concerns of some voters about language in the books, motivated her inquiries. In December 1996, Palin said she had no books or other material in mind for removal. No books were removed from the library, and Palin stated in 2006 that she would not allow her personal religious beliefs to dictate her political positions.
Police Chief Irl Stambaugh, who was fired by Palin, was previously nominated to be Alaska's Municipal Employee of the Year. Because he had heard that Palin had felt intimidated by him during a meeting, he made sure to sit when talking with her, and to use a soothing voice. Nevertheless, Palin said, "When I met with you in private, instead of engaging in interactive conversation with me, you gave me short, uncommunicative answers and then you would sit there and stare at me in silence with a very stern look, like you were trying to intimidate me." On January 30, Stambaugh was on the phone with the town's librarian — who said she had just been fired — when an assistant of Palin's walked up and gave Stambaugh an envelope. Inside was a letter from Palin, saying Stambaugh, too, was fired. His firing was to be effective February 13.
Palin said that she fired Emmons and Stambaugh because they did not fully support her efforts to govern the city. The next day, following expressions of public support for Emmons at a personal meeting, Palin rescinded the firing of Emmons, stating that her concerns had been alleviated, and adding that Emmons agreed to support Palin's plan to merge the town's library and museum operations. Palin described the letters as just a test of loyalty. Stambaugh, who along with Emmons had supported Palin's opponent in the election, filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination, violation of his contract, and gender discrimination. In the trial, the defense alleged political reasons; Stambaugh said that he had opposed a gun control bill, Alaska Senate Bill 177, that Palin supported. The federal judge said in the decision that the police chief serves at the discretion of the mayor, and can be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one, and dismissed Stambaugh's lawsuit ordering Stambaugh to pay Palin's legal fees.
Post-mayoral years
In 2002, Palin ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a five-way Republican primary. The Republican ticket of U.S. Senator Frank Murkowski and Leman won the November 2002 election. When Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in December 2002 to become governor, he considered appointing Palin to replace him in the Senate, but chose his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski.
Governor Murkowski appointed Palin to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. She chaired the Commission beginning in 2003, serving as Ethics Supervisor. Palin resigned in January 2004, protesting what she called the "lack of ethics" of fellow Republican members.
After resigning, Palin filed a formal complaint against Oil and Gas Conservation Commissioner Randy Ruedrich, also the chair of the state Republican Party, accusing him of doing work for the party on public time and of working closely with a company he was supposed to be regulating. She also joined with Democratic legislator Eric Croft to file a complaint against Gregg Renkes, a former Alaskan Attorney General, accusing him of having a financial conflict of interest in negotiating a coal exporting trade agreement, while Renkes was the subject of investigation and after records suggesting a possible conflict of interest had been released to the public. Ruedrich and Renkes both resigned and Ruedrich paid a record $12,000 fine.
From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group designed to provide political training for Republican women in Alaska. In 2004, Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she had decided not to run for the U.S. Senate that year, against the Republican incumbent, Lisa Murkowski, because her teenage son opposed it. Palin said, "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. Senator?"
Governor of Alaska
In 2006, running on a clean-government platform, Palin defeated incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell. She will not be a candidate for re-election as Governor in 2010.
In the November election, Palin was outspent but victorious, defeating former Democratic governor Tony Knowles by a margin of 48.3% to 40.9%. She became Alaska's first female governor, at the age of 42, the youngest governor in Alaskan history, the state's first governor to have been born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood, and the first not to be inaugurated in Juneau (she chose to have the ceremony held in Fairbanks instead). She took office on December 4, 2006, and for most of her term was very popular with Alaska voters. Polls taken in 2007 showed her with 93% and 89% popularity among all voters, which led some media outlets to call her "the most popular governor in America." A poll taken in late September 2008 after Palin was named to the national Republican ticket showed her popularity in Alaska at 68%. A poll taken in May 2009 showed Palin's popularity among Alaskans was at 54% positive and 41.6% negative.
Palin declared that top priorities of her administration would be resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development. She had championed ethics reform throughout her election campaign. Her first legislative action after taking office was to push for a bipartisan ethics reform bill. She signed the resulting legislation in July 2007, calling it a "first step", and declaring that she remained determined to clean up Alaska politics.
Palin has frequently broken with the state Republican establishment. For example, she endorsed Sean Parnell's bid to unseat the state's longtime at-large U.S. Representative, Don Young, and she publicly challenged then-Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings. Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as needed "to make clear she had not abandoned him politically."
Palin promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Proposals to drill for oil in ANWR have been the subject of a national debate.
In 2006, Palin obtained a passport and in 2007 traveled for the first time outside of North America on a trip to Kuwait. There she visited the Khabari Alawazem Crossing at the Kuwait–Iraq border and met with members of the Alaska National Guard at several bases. On her return trip to the U.S., she visited injured soldiers in Germany.
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